Rye Allergy Test

£40.00

Description

Rye Allergy Test

Code: f5
Latin name: Secale cereale
Source material: Untreated planting seeds
Family: Poaceae (Gramineae)
Common names: Rye, Rogge

Rye is a food which may result in allergy symptoms in sensitised individuals.

Rye Allergy Test: Allergen Exposure

Rye is a cereal grain, related to wheat and other grass derived grains, and is grown for food as well as for forage and as a cover crop.

It should not be confused with ryegrass, which is used for lawns, pasture, and fodder for livestock.

Rye is used in bread making, alcoholic fermentation, and as feed for livestock.

Rye bread is especially popular in northern Europe. Although rye flour does not develop true gluten, it has proteins that give it the capacity for making leavened bread; which is, however, denser and usually darker than wheat bread. Rye and wheat flours are often mixed to provide an intermediate result.

Rye seeds can be sprouted and added to salads. The roasted grains can also be used as a substitute for coffee.

Malt, a sweet substance produced by germinating the seed, is extracted from the roasted germinated seed and used as a sweetening agent and in making beer and spirits. For example, Canadian and American whiskies are made mainly from rye malt.

The grains are used in folk remedies for tumours and other cancers. They are reported to be laxative.

Rye Allergy Test: Allergen Description

Several allergens present in rye have been isolated, including a profilin, a secalin and an alpha-amylases/trypsin inhibitor.

Various other allergenic proteins have been detected but not characterised.

Rye Allergy Test: Potential Cross-Reactivity

An extensive cross-reactivity among the different individual species of the genus could be expected, and cross-antigenicity has been shown to exist between the different cereal grains: rye, wheat, triticale, barley, oat, maize and rice.

Cross-reactivity between rye and rye pollen has been shown.

Allergy to kiwi, poppy seed, and/or sesame seed often occurs in patients with a simultaneous sensitisation to nuts and flour. In a study characterising these cross-reactivities, the degree of cross-reactivity among kiwi, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, hazel nuts, and rye grain was found to be very high.

Papain has been reported to cross-react with bromelain, wheat flour, rye flour, grass pollen and birch pollen.

Rye Allergy Test: Clinical Experience

Rye and rye flour may commonly induce symptoms of food allergy in sensitised individuals, in particular in bakers.

Symptoms may include asthma, rhinitis, sneezing and wheezing.

Food allergy with gastrointestinal symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, gastric irritation, abdominal pain and diarrhoea, has been reported.

Cutaneous symptoms may include pruritis, urticaria, dermatitis, atopic dermatitis and angioedema.

Anaphylaxis or vascular collapse with exercise has been documented.

Occupational allergy to rye exposure may occur in animal feed and husbandry workers, bakers and other employees in bakeries, other food industry workers, and wood workers.

Other reactions

Rye contains a gluten-complex protein which may result in coeliac disease (coeliac enteropathy) in genetically susceptible individuals.

Vasospasm related to ergot intoxication has been recognised since the Middle Ages, when it occurred due to ingestion of rye contaminated with the mould Claviceps purpurea.

Today ergotism is a rare cause of peripheral ischaemia, most often associated with ergotamine tartrate therapy for migraine headaches.